


A Playlist to End the Decade

by dancedance_resolution



Series: the AMCU (Andi Mack Cinematic Universe) [4]
Category: Andi Mack (TV)
Genre: Andi Mack Holiday Gift Exchange, Fluff, M/M, Song fic, Sprinkles of angst, but also not really, highschool tyrus, it just doesn't make sense unless you listen to the spotify playlist linked in the notes, new year themed, this is my gift for @djheckingfruity an amazing human and amazing artist !!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-30
Updated: 2019-12-30
Packaged: 2021-02-27 15:14:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,263
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22039159
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dancedance_resolution/pseuds/dancedance_resolution
Summary: It's the third night of Chanukah and TJ gives Cyrus his third gift: a shared playlist.---Lots of fluff. New Year themed. TJ opens up about his internalized homophobia.
Relationships: Cyrus Goodman/T. J. Kippen
Series: the AMCU (Andi Mack Cinematic Universe) [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1856911
Comments: 3
Kudos: 43





	A Playlist to End the Decade

**Author's Note:**

  * For [djhheckingfruity](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=djhheckingfruity).



> tw/cw: internalized homophobia, primarily in the december 28th section
> 
> HAPPY NEW YEAR @DJHECKINGFRUITY!!! i've had so much fun writing this fic and spamming your ask box :) 
> 
> IMPORTANT: this is a song fic type thing that *does not make sense unless you listen to the playlist* (https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0K6gH3jOJ0s6hOgv29RucY)!! the way this works is you play one song for each date - the 24th gets the first song, and then you'll either pause the song if it finishes before you finish reading that date, or you'll stop reading until the song is over if you finish reading that date before its song is done. it'll make sense once you start reading and see the format lol
> 
> this fic include's kippen siblings and mentions tumblr's @dumb-binch-juice's oc lenni. also, i do not personally celebrate chanukah so please let me know if i need to fix anything :) 
> 
> ha ha we'll ignore the fact that i wrote this headcanoning that they haven't said ily yet but they're giving each other songs that say ily point blank

**_December 24 th _ **

“Happy Chanukah, again!” TJ smiled tenderly as Cyrus answered the door.

“Happy Christmas Eve!” Cyrus responded as he wrapped TJ in a hug. “Ready for your first dinner?”

The boys stood in the entryway of the Goodman residence, wanting to take a moment to catch up before heading into the dining room for dinner with Cyrus’s family. “Of course! As I’ve always said, it’s not Christmas Eve unless you have a Chanukah dinner with your boyfriend’s family before he comes to Christmas Eve dinner with your family!” He smiled as he hung up his jacket in the coat closet. He then continued, “So, as a minimum-wage children’s gym worker trying to save up for a used car—”

“Teej, I’ve been telling you, you don’t have to get me a gift each night! The candle and notebook were plenty!”

“—tonight’s gift is a cute idea type thing.” TJ slung his arm around Cyrus, grinning in defeat.

“Okay, I’ll let you give me this gift, but this is the last one! And I’m only accepting this one because I love romantic cute idea type things.”

“Okaaay,” TJ said, smiling as he feigned exasperation. “So, for tonight’s gift, I’ve set up a collaborative playlist. I’m texting it to you now.”

Cyrus’s phone let out a piercing _ding_ as a link appeared on his screen. Opening it up, he read aloud, “‘A Playlist to End the Decade’! I love it! Finally, a place to put all of my favorite ’10s hits!”

“First of all, ‘tens’ just sounds wrong. ‘Tens’ doesn’t sound like a valid decade. And second of all, while that whole ‘tens songs’ concept sounds very sensical and all, need I remind you that time is a construct? And also that I only know like three songs from this decade?”

“Oh, I see, so this just a ‘TJ Needs an Excuse to Force Cyrus to Listen to his Favorite Songs’ type situation.”

“Maaaaybe,” TJ said, giggling. “But all of them have a meaning that I’ll explain to you!”

Cyrus leaned his head on TJ’s shoulder. “There’s only one song on the playlist,” he commented, confused.

“Well, each day until New Year’s, we’ll give each other a song. The song I’m giving you today is ‘Skylark,’ and tomorrow you’ll give me a song, and then the next day you’ll get a song from me, and so on.”

“This is so cute! Thank you, Teej.” Cyrus intertwined his and TJ’s fingers. “So. ‘Skylark.’”

“To begin with, it’s a ‘40s jazz standard sung by Ella Fitzgerald, and that alone is enough to get it on the list.”

“I respect that.”

“But more than that, the general mood of the song—how it makes you feel like you’re floating through ‘meadows in the mist’ and ‘blossom-covered lanes’ and ‘serenaded moons’—Cyrus, that’s how I feel with you. The song, it just makes me think of you.”

“Boys!” Mr. Goodman called. “Dinner’s on the table!”

The heavily-blushing Cyrus gave TJ’s hand a small squeeze. “Thank you,” he whispered genuinely, looking TJ in the eyes softly before reluctantly dropping his hand as they emerged into the light of the dining room.

Later that night, as the boys walked to the Kippen house for Christmas Eve dinner, Cyrus heard TJ singing under his breath. The soft sound echoed through the near-empty streets, simultaneously blanketed in the cold dusting of snow and the warm heat of lampposts and their love. A particular line stood out to Cyrus: “Skylark, have you seen a valley green with spring, where my heart can go a-journeying.” And Cyrus distinctly remembered look of conviction on TJ’s face, as if his countenance was saying _Yes, I have seen the valleys._

**_December 25 th _ **

_MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!_ Cyrus’s Christmas-morning text was proceeded by at least twenty Christmas- and winter-themed emojis.

_merry christmas to you too cy :))) also happy fourth night of chanukah!_

_Still the third night until sundown, babe. Lol_

TJ smiled as he looked up from his phone. He was seated in the back seat of the car as his mother drove him and Amber to their Aunt Franny’s house for Christmas brunch. Ravel played in the AirPods he had received that morning; to the annoyance of Amber, his hands were frantically air-playing along with “Jeux d’eua,” the song he was currently struggling to learn on piano.

Another text arrived, interrupting his fingers’ steady movement as they tried to keep up with the pace of the song. _Anyways, since we won’t be seeing each other today (curse your ~family commitments~), you’ll be receiving your Christmas gift tomorrow._

_Oh, also, I’ve added your song :)_

TJ opened up the playlist and clicked on the addition—“Lemon Boy” by Cavetown. He listened intently, having never heard the song or artist before.

His initial thought was that Cyrus must have remembered his admiration for a Capella music. TJ was quite the sucker for a Capella harmonies and the way voices could be the only instruments necessary, filling up the space.

As he listened to the lyrics, it dawned on him—he was Lemon Boy. He was the bittersweet man who grew on—both literally and figuratively within the context of the song—Cyrus, the gardener who befriended him and showed him that he was more than just a shallow bully. The chorus then demonstrated the development of their relationship, how they became friends and, well, more than just friends. (And though TJ wouldn’t admit it, he was relieved to learn that it’s pretty easy being nice to a bitter boy like him, and that he and Cyrus could continue to mow lawns even in bad weather.)

The next verse perfectly reflected his relationship with Buffy, how she feared that he was a bad influence and was understandably apprehensive about him.

But Cyrus still cared for him. And the cheerful chorus, which made this clear, was the brightest of all of the sections, and the background voices exclusively sang notes within the major chord.

The bridge—Cyrus was being vulnerable here. Cyrus was expressing how he couldn’t bear to lose TJ, and Cyrus was admitting his own insecurities and his fear of imperfection.

But the minor sequence resolved to major, and the tempo picked up; Cyrus and TJ remained together. Forever.

TJ felt a single tear slip down his cheek as Cyrus’s next text arrived: _I know by now you’ve dissected the song plenty, but I just want to let you know that the lemon zest is confidence. You give me confidence, Citrus Friend :)_

**_December 26 th _ **

At the sound of the bell, TJ excitedly ran downstairs to greet Cyrus.

“I have your gift!” Cyrus exclaimed as TJ opened the door. He continued, “It’s one of those stick-on mini blind spot-removing mirrors! I’m too young to spend my days by a hospital bed waiting for my comatose boyfriend to wake up after a dramatic car accident! Fifteen is just too young to star in a soap opera situation!”

TJ laughed and gave Cyrus a hug. “I promise I’ll put it on my mom’s car the second it stops snowing.” 

Cyrus then began to pull out a soft-looking green thing from the Trader Joe’s bag he was carrying. “I also knitted you a scarf and hat. Ignore the messed up part about a quarter of the way down the hat; it was my first time knitting without Bubby Rose by my side helping me and next thing I knew I had messed up like six rows and started panicked that I would lose my stitches if I tried to rip it out and I—”

“Cyrus,” TJ interrupted, taking Cyrus’s hand in his own. “I love it.”

Cyrus smiled, looking TJ in the eyes. The two boys’ trance was broken as they heard Amber yell from the kitchen, “TJ, the hot chocolates you forced me to make you are getting cold!”

“Ooh, hot cocoa! Thank you, Amber!” Cyrus yelled as he grabbed TJ’s hand and began to gleefully run into the kitchen.

As TJ and Cyrus sat at the counter drinking their cocoa—Cyrus’s filled with more marshmallows than liquid—TJ asked, “Have you checked the playlist this morning? The song on it is today’s gift for you, and yesterday’s gift is related to today’s gift so…”

“TJ! I said no more non-song gifts! I’m pulling the song up right now, and I will not be accepting anything else,” Cyrus said as he reached for his phone. “Hey! Turns out the gift I gave you this morning was quite appropriate!” Cyrus bopped his head up and down as “Drive My Car” poured out of his phone’s speakers.

“Once you finally get your learner’s permit, Mr. I’ve-been-elligibile-to-get-my-permit-since-December-18th-but-just-haven’t-found-the-time-to-get-down-to-the-DMV, I will be blasting this as you drive me around town in my mom’s ’92 Saab with the top down!”

“Keep dreaming, Kippen. The likelihood that I step behind the wheel of that death trap anytime soon…”

TJ playfully shoved Cyrus as they laughed and hummed along to the song.

Once it was over, TJ said, “So you don’t even want to know what yesterday’s Chanukah gift was?”

“Nope.”

Before Cyrus could stop him, TJ pulled a slip of paper from his back pocket. “Because I coerced my mom, a person over twenty-one years of age who has held a driver’s license for three plus years, into making you this certificate certifying that the second you get your permit she agrees to sit in the back seat so that when you drive me in the Saab while blasting this song it’s legal.”

Cyrus collapsed into a fit of laughter as he accepted the slip of paper and proceeded to chuck marshmallows at TJ in mock anger.

**_December 27 th_ **

_Good morning, my wonderful boyfriend :) I know we’ll see each other at dinner (where you will NOT be giving me another gift), but check the playlist now instead of later! It’s a good song to wake up to!_

TJ rubbed his eyes, awoken by the sharp _ding_ of a text message. He opened it up immediately upon realizing that it was from Cyrus.

 _roaring 20s? solid._ he replied as Brendon Urie’s voice filled his room.

_I know it lacks beautiful symbolic meaning and everything—although I do feel the need to point out and respect the Edgar Allen Poe reference—but it’s a good song. And while you’ve had forever to pick your additions to this playlist, I’ve had hardly any advance notice! Plus, if this playlist is ushering in the 2020s, it legally has to include Roaring 20s._

_well,_ _for an album made this century, it is pretty great_

 _Pretty great!_ Pray for the Wicked _is artistry, TJ Kippen!_

TJ responded with a smiley face and a string of green heart emojis.

_also, you //will// be receiving a gift from me later and it //will// be planner stickers :))))_

_TJ!!!!!_

**_December 28 th _ **

“Hi TJ!” Cyrus said as he walked into his boyfriend’s house.

“Happy Chanukah! Have you checked the playlist yet?”

“I wanted to wait until I came over here so you could explain it to me as I listen,” Cyrus responded warmly.

“Good, because this one will definitely require explaining.” TJ wrapped his arm around Cyrus as he guided his boyfriend up the stairs and into his room. “I have this song on vinyl, so we’ll be listening to it that way.”

“Vintage vibes! I like it!”

“Alright,” TJ said as he pulled out a faded and water-stained Fleetwood Mac album that he had bought used at the Rooster two years ago. “Don’t get the wrong idea here; in fact, it’s probably best if you don’t even listen to the lyrics.”

“Intriguing! And mildly fear-inducing. But, to be fair, pretty much everything gives me at least mild fear.”

TJ laughed as he put down the needle, not even needing to count the rings to know where the song started.

“‘Dreams,’” he said as the room swelled with the ballad’s smooth rhythm. “Spotify says this was my second-most played song in 2019, and that doesn’t even include all the times I listened to it on vinyl… There were times when I’d just put it on repeat for hours as I stared off into space. I guess you could say it was my cry song, but I never really cried back then. I just listened and let thoughts spiral around.”

Cyrus put his hand atop TJ’s supportively.

“I thought that I’d grown enough that I didn’t need this song anymore. But the other day at Christmas brunch… I don’t know. Just being around all of these people and knowing that I’d have to come out to them one day, when only a few months ago I was still deep in internalized homophobia… I mean, I can still barely even say the word out loud. Gay, I mean. It feels dirty, and it feels unnatural and sticky on my tongue, and its sound just reverberates around my skull…”

“TJ, it is one-hundred percent okay if you say that word a thousand times or never or somewhere in between. Either way, it’s okay. Everyone’s process is different, and you deserve as much time to grow as you need. Anyways, needed to listen to a song isn’t the only metric to measure growth by. TJ, never feel bad about not conforming to whatever timeline you think you should.”

TJ closed his eyes for a few seconds, feeling Cyrus’s thumb making small strokes over his hand. “You’re the reason I’m here, the reason I was able to get to a place where I could leave this song behind. But you’re also the reason why after the brunch, I was able to let myself listen to it again, and why right now, I don’t feel shame for needing to listen to it.

“And you know what I did two days ago? I sat down at the piano and played this song in a faster tempo and with brighter chord progressions and I made it sound hopeful.

“So thank you. Thank you thank you thank you thank you.”

As TJ looked over, he saw that Cyrus’s face was a bit redder than usual. “Hey!” he said playfully, his own face likely even redder. “I’m the one who’s supposed to be crying, not you!”

Cyrus responded by tackling him in a hug.

_December 29 th _

“Today’s addition,” Cyrus said as he opened the door for TJ, “is a much happier one.”

“I know.”

“How do you know?”

“I cheated. This morning I checked the playlist and then listened to your song on repeat while I got ready,” TJ said with a bashful smile. “And yes, I did dance like a happy maniac.”

Cyrus sighed with pretended exaggeration. “Does it require explanation, or can we skip straight to the watching-One-Day-at-a-Time-in-my-basement part?”

“Only if I get to steal a few kisses,” TJ said with a grin.

“ODAAT it is!” Cyrus leaned in for a quick kiss before they started heading down the basement stairs. “Man,” he remarked, “I really am on top of the world!”

As they descended the stairs, TJ hummed the song, and soon enough Cyrus was belting it. TJ even harmonized to the final chorus. By the end, both boys were out of breath and elated, each with a clear understanding of how much the other truly cherished him.

_December 30 th _

“Time for my most-played song of 2019,” TJ announced as Cyrus walked into his house. “Any guesses?”

Cyrus pretended to deeply ponder the possibilities as they made their way to TJ’s room. “Well, knowing you, it’s probably a jazzy love song from the forties that I would never be able to name, so no, I will not be guessing.”

“Would your answer change if I told you it was a song from this century?”

“Interesting! If it’s some early-2000s emo song I _will_ scream. Whether said scream is out of joy, horror, laughter, or embarrassment has yet to be determined.”

“Hmm. Maybe the song is from this decade.”

“Tee-Jay Kippen! The scandal! Is it some avant-garde jazz piece you played in the car once and now I’m going to feel guilty that I didn’t remember it? Or some choral piece by Hola-Gay-yee-eh-low?” Cyrus began firing off guesses. “Days of Beauty! His arrangement of Ubi Caritas!”

“ _Ola Gjielo_ ,” TJ corrected, with perfect diction. “And,” he continued, chuckling, “while those are two of my favorite songs, no. It is not classical or jazz.”

Cyrus feigned the utmost seriousness when he responded, “Who are you and what have you done with my boyfriend?”

TJ and Cyrus collapsed onto the bed, laughing. Cyrus rested his head against TJ’s chest as their fingers intertwined. “‘It Feels Like Summer’? I remember seeing that on your Spotify play history once, and it’s an environmentalist anthem.”

“Nope. But again, a very good guess.”

“Alright, I give up. What is it?”

TJ got up from the bed, much to Cyrus’s momentary dismay. He walked over to the cheap keyboard in the corner of his room.

A few soft chords later—F#, E, B—Cyrus recognized the tune.

“TJ!” Cyrus gasped quietly before standing up to give the taller boy a hug. “‘Born This Way,” he whispered.

“My most played song of 2019. Got me through a lot of internalized homophobia. Helped me find the confidence to hold your hand. Well, this song, plus all of the support you gave me through our friendship.” He began to hum the tune’s vocals.

Cyrus sniffed a little, turning away so TJ couldn’t see the tear falling down his left cheek as waves of appreciation and memories of that night at Andi’s party flooded his mind.

TJ finished the song and slowly took held of Cyrus’s hand.

A whispered “thank you” filled the space in the air that had been previously occupied by the song.

**_December 31 st_ **

Andi’s New Year’s Eve party was truly the party of the decade. It was just as big, if not bigger, than her middle school graduation party, and the atmosphere had a similar feeling of magic to it.

TJ didn’t arrive at the party until close to eleven. He had to be driven to Andi’s house from Twin Falls, which was three hours away, where the Kippens had been having New Year’s Eve at Aunt Callie’s house.

Cyrus, absorbed in conversation with Andi and Buffy, didn’t even notice the _ten mins away !!! <3 <3 <3 <3_ text until TJ was practically outside the front door. When he finally glanced at his phone and saw that it had been sent nine minutes ago, he shouted with glee and ran out to meet TJ with a hug.

By the time midnight neared, nearly everyone had left the party. Sitting in the living room remained The Good Hair Crew, Jonah, Marty, Lenni, and the Kippen siblings. As the group sat chatting, huddled around the TV in preparation for the ball drop, Cyrus motioned for TJ to follow him into the kitchen.

TJ sat on the edge of the counter as Cyrus poured them both small glasses of the sparkling apple cider that Andi had opened before TJ arrived. “So, are you ready for the final song of the decade?”

TJ nodded, and a simple piano melody began to play from Cyrus’s phone. TJ recognized it instantly: Thelonious Monk, “I’m Confessin’ (That I Love You).”

In that moment, Cyrus saw a wide, endearing smile find a home on TJ’s face. He heard the sound of his friends counting down to the New Year in the other room, and then they reached “1.”

The next thing Cyrus felt was TJ’s lips against his.

**Author's Note:**

> thank you so much for reading!! 
> 
> again happy new year to @djheckingfruity you're amazing and i really enjoyed writing this for you!!


End file.
